7.1.1 Requests for a different date of oral proceedings 

A request for a different date of oral proceedings is allowable only if the party concerned can advance serious reasons which justify the fixing of a new date (see T 1080/99, T 300/04, J 4/03 and T 178/03). The request for the fixing of another date must be filed as soon as possible after the reasons preventing the party concerned from attending the oral proceedings have arisen. It must be accompanied by a sufficiently substantiated written statement setting out these reasons (see OJ EPO 2009, 68; see also T 178/03) and by appropriate evidence, where necessary.

Serious reasons to request a change in the date for oral proceedings include:

– a summons to oral proceedings previously notified to the same party in other proceedings before the EPO, the Unified Patent Court or a national court or patent office 

– for the same date or 

– for the preceding or following day or 

– for at least one of the two preceding or two following days where participation in the oral proceedings requires travelling to or from a geographically distant location 

– serious illness 

– a death within the family 

– the marriage of a person whose attendance at oral proceedings is relevant 

– military service or other obligatory performance of civic duties 

– business trips which have been firmly booked before notification of the summons to oral proceedings 

– holidays which have already been firmly booked before notification of the summons to oral proceedings. Where holidays are planned but not yet booked, the representative must indicate the circumstances which prevent them from being rescheduled (e.g. school holidays). 

If the reasons for changing the date of the oral proceedings submitted by a party do not meet the above criteria, the division will inform the parties that the oral proceedings will take place as set out in the summons and attach an annex with brief reasons as to why in its view the criteria are not met.

The reasons that can be invoked to change the date only apply to those participants whose presence is essential to the oral proceedings, e.g. the representative or a witness.

If substantive submissions have been made by several representatives of a firm over the course of the proceedings, it must be explained why none of them can present the case at the oral proceedings, i.e. why the representative who cannot attend is essential or why the others are also unable to attend.

In opposition proceedings, especially if more than one opponent is involved, a more strict approach may be applied to prevent a series of changes of date (see T 1102/03).

Reasons which, as a rule, are not acceptable include:

– a summons to oral proceedings before the EPO or a national court that was notified after the summons in question 

– excessive work pressure. 

As Monday and Friday are normal working days, oral proceedings can be scheduled for these days too. The fact that this may mean having to travel at weekends is not a sufficient reason to change the date of the oral proceedings. If possible, however, the departments of first instance will try to be flexible where a party requests a change in the starting time to enable them to travel on the same day.